The Mountain Running World Cup’s spring centrepiece returns to La Palma on the weekend of 7–9 May, with the Transvulcania Vertical Kilometer staged on Thursday evening and the Half Marathon following on Saturday morning. The volcanic ridgeline, the lung-burning ascent of Roque de los Muchachos and the brutal final descent into Tazacorte all remain in place, but the start lists confirm that this year’s edition will be the most loaded the festival has hosted in several years.
The Vertical Kilometer is the headliner. The 7.1km course climbs 1,100 metres on a road with average gradients close to 16 per cent and a finishing ramp that tips above 25 per cent, and the World Cup has loaded the start list with the strongest verticalists on the circuit. Patrick Kipng’eno is back to defend his crown after a sub-31 effort in 2025, while Sweden’s Tove Alexandersson arrives off her Mistral Marathon Trail tune-up win and is the firm favourite on the women’s side. Andorra’s Oriol Cardona Coll and Britain’s Scout Adkin will look to upset that script.
The Saturday Half Marathon — 24km of mostly climbing on the volcanic spine of the island — is the test that will decide the early-season trail standings. Davide Magnini and Christian Mathys head a deep men’s field, with Spain’s Manuel Merillas back from injury and Bonnet’s Salomon team-mate Stian Hovind Angermund expected to be in the mix. The women’s race is harder to call: Alexandersson is doubling, Sara Alonso is using the trip as her final Zegama sharpener, and Maud Mathys returns to the kind of terrain where she has historically thrived.
Conditions on La Palma will play their usual role. Forecasters are tracking light overnight cloud at altitude on Thursday with temperatures dropping into the single digits at the Roque finish line, while Saturday is expected to start cool at El Pinar and warm aggressively as runners drop off the ridge into Tazacorte. The descent — 18km off the volcano in the Marathon, sharpened to 12km in the Half — is where Transvulcania traditionally chews up runners who paced the climb too aggressively, and it remains the single biggest tactical decision of the weekend.
Beyond the racing, Transvulcania is also a litmus test for how the trail circuit is consolidating in 2026. With the Mountain Running World Cup, the Golden Trail World Series and Skyrunner World Series all calibrating their early-season points hauls, La Palma is one of the rare weekends where every major brand and circuit will have their athletes on the same start line. Streaming coverage from the World Cup begins from the Vertical Kilometer at 18:30 local time on 7 May, with the Half Marathon broadcast from the El Pinar start at 07:00 on 9 May.